Reservation and Restaurant Choice Needed

[Feckless]

So, folks who have been recently, what are your "must do" restaurants? How many reservations do you typically make for a 10 day stay? This is my first onsite stay and I'm finding the reservation thing to be the most difficult!

I'm just over a month away from my reservation window, but since we are traveling with another family I want to get stuff decided. We are not doing everything together but they are staying at BCV so we will probably meet up for a few meals.

I want to do 'Ohana for dinner then see the fireworks from the beach. DS is a fan of what he calls "meat on a stick" so I suspect that one will be a hit.

We will do a Cape May character breakfast since we are staying at BC. I want one other character meal but can't decide.

The other family is doing CRT because they have a princess crazed 6 year old. No such luck around here! I'm thinking that although it would be cool to eat in the castle it isn't a priority.

I wanted to book the Brown Derby Fantasmic package because we haven't seen it (too crazy when we went last time) but I can be talked into another restaurant.

DH wants to try Tutto Italia and I think the kid's would like Via Napoli.

I'm thinking of making reservations for TS every night hoping that we will get free DDP, and at least giving us a TS option if we want. We will be sure to cancel as early as possible if things change. We did commando touring last time and but are doing a more chilled out approach this time. we are planning on being back at the resort either for lunch or just after lunch. We are staying CL so I was only going to make one or two breakfast reservations. Of course, I was going to focus more on reservations that are close as well, like the Boardwalk and WS.

Neither of my kids are terribly adventurous eaters and we have the added issue of DD being 11 when we travel. She won't like much on the adult menus! So, restaurants that won't allow any choice for her are probably out.

Thanks for any suggestions and advice!





Of course we are close to Epcot and so

 

[Feckless]

Sorry about the messy post! Darn iPad won't let me scroll down in the text box to delete. LOL

 

[Feckless]

Also, we loved the Tusker House buffet last trip so we were going to make a stop there as well. Lunch or dinner????

 

[Gmouse]

MUST DO-
Ohana lunch/dinner
LeCellier lunch (because it's less OOP/1TS)
Tutto Italia (Via Naploli reviews aren't so great, can't say for myself)
Chef Mickey's is awesome for breakfast! DS would LOVE IT
Kona Cafe brkfst,lunch or dinner...everything there is wonderful!

Since you're having another family along for the trip- try 50's Prime Time- the food is just pretty good, but the highlight are the servers. The more people you have the more fun it is! We hadn't planned on going ourselves. It's kindof a been there done that sort of thing..but we have some family meeting us now so we have it on the list to go

You are lucky to be close to Epcot-sooo many choices!

 

[Feckless]

Thanks for your reply! I hadn't thought about Le Cellier for lunch. I thought I would also try a restaurant in France because my kids are in French Immersion.

My DD loves Winnie the Pooh still so that's Crystal Palace, right?

What about Whispering Canyon Cafe for some fun with the big family too? I don't think my DS would like the servers at 50s Prime Time, just a feeling I have! Note that my kids always cringe when servers sing Happy Birthday in a restaurant!

I think I need some kind of chart! So hard when I don't have touring plans/crowd level indicators yet. I guess I should get on that. LOL

 

[Kez250]

The two we go back to on each trip are Yachtsmans Steakhouse & Flying Fish.

I have one adventurous eater and one not so much, so these restaurants suit both of them well.

We want to try Ohana but i left it too late for our next trip so we're doing Cali Grill instead

 

[bricorssk]

Ohana YUMM!!!!
Kona any meal
Boma (or maybe Sanaa) its worth the trip! Our family, all ages, love both
Crystal palace is fun
my kids had a blast at biergarten
One of our least favorite meals was Chefs le france (the steak tasted electrical, it was so loud, very crowded and the service was so so) but that was dinner maybe lunch is better

 

[Pakey]

Cape May breakfast is good. Tusker is our favorite; we like it better than Crystal Palace but if you haven't done CP, go for it.

Brown Derby is good but it's a terrible value on dining plan. We pay cash.

We like Via Napoli a lot better than Tutto Italia.

We like Chefs lunch better than Le Cellier. I do not like Chefs for dinner but lunch has always been nice.

Biergarten is a favorite.

WCC is one of the worst. I've eaten at all but 5 TS at WDW and WCC ranks at the bottom of the list.

I would try Sanaa. Gorgeous restaurant and very good food, much better than the menu reads. YSH is a nice choice if you are staying there at BC. Captains Grille is nice too.

 

[Feckless]

Saana, Boma, Kona... What's a girl to do??? I'm boggled. It reminds me of the girls in DSs class: Kenna, Gemma, Anna, Jenna, Anna.

I think I need to read some more reviews and menus! I'm not wasting time at WCC if it sucks. We were going to do the GG experience at Tusker but now that they've discontinued the GGs, does anyone have another suggestion for a big family experience? Is there anything else like that at AK?

If the food sucks at Chefs de France I'll do lunch at Le Cellier and find a Québécois for the kids to practice their French on. LOL. Lots of votes for Yachtsman so since we at at BC I should get a reservation for there...

Keep it coming! Thanks so much to everyone for taking the time to post.

Now, COME ON FREE DINING!

 

[mss]

We are going back to Le Cellier and Citrico's this time. They are the only two repeats from our 2009 trip, when we also did California Grill, Les Chefs de France and few other places. The reason is that we want try new places, but in the case of California Grill we simply had a bad meal and will not return.

We are also doing TH breakfast this time. Last time, we did CP and I would have done that again, but decided to try something new

We are not on the DDP, and for our 14-day trip, I have made 14 TS reservations - a mix of breakfast and dinners. DBF isn't a fan of TS lunches.

 

[krb2g]

I'd suggest Garden Grill for a second character meal. It's family style, so you don't have to get up, the restaurant rotates, which is awesome, and we've had *fantastic* character interactions there (Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale).

 

[Gmouse]

Thanks for your reply! I hadn't thought about Le Cellier for lunch. I thought I would also try a restaurant in France because my kids are in French Immersion.

My DD loves Winnie the Pooh still so that's Crystal Palace, right?

What about Whispering Canyon Cafe for some fun with the big family too? I don't think my DS would like the servers at 50s Prime Time, just a feeling I have! Note that my kids always cringe when servers sing Happy Birthday in a restaurant!

I think I need some kind of chart! So hard when I don't have touring plans/crowd level indicators yet. I guess I should get on that. LOL

Whispering Canyon can be fun IF you get a good server. They just bring out funny things. Like- we asked for ketchup-they brought out 25 bottles and sat them on the floor. Ask for a toothpick they bring a HUGE 4 ft long pole out. It's "cute" and you get a little laugh out of it,but the age of both our boys- 50's PT is soo much more fun. My son had a BLAST laughing his head off at his DAD being scolded like a 6 yr old. I would say we had the BEST "mom" (waitress) she was just like a "tough mom". but as we were there we watched some of the other tables and they were ALL sooo funny! I don't think we ever laughed so much at dinner!! AND my son ate more than he ever has- he was afraid (not REALLY) that she would get him too! She did a few time, but Dad was the one for that night.
The food was good, not the best I have had in my LIFE, but good. I am from SC and I KNOW homestyle southern food and cook it MYSELF. But it was nice change to have some homestyle food from everything else we had eaten that week. Kinda like Paula Deen's restaurant. It's good, but if you aren't from here...it's not really the BEST. She's just made famous by her personality. So I'll same the same for 50's PT... is good for it's "personality"

 

[Quin]

Ohana is a must-do for us as well.

Cape May character breakfast will fit well for you since you are staying at BC. For your other character meal, how about 1900 PF dinner? With or without the other family. While CRT and Akershus in Norway are all about wall-to-wall princesses, 1900PF has Cindy and her Prince, her Stepmama, and her Stepsisters. The Prince will interact well with your DS, and the Steps are hilarious.

I really like Biergarten. If the combined group is no more than 8 people, that's a good choice; if it is more than 8, just go by yourselves. They seat everyone at tables for 8, so a 9-person group has to split up.

Boma is a great buffet, too. With a 9 and a 10 year old, families often report problems that a child who is just over the Disney Kid limit would really rather have the kids-meal food. At buffets, everybody can eat from all portions of the buffet so everyone is more likely to go away happy.

If Prime Time would not appeal to your family then I suspect WCC might not either. You could always do a special show like HDDR; sounds like your kids are old enough to really enjoy it. It's pricey, though, and costs 2 TS on the DDP.

 

[Feckless]

There are 8 of us total so Biergarten might work fine for us.

We did Garden Grill in 2009 and loved it.

I was thinking about 1900PF too...

I think we should try to put in as many buffets as possible, for the reason you stated. Boma does sound awesome, thanks!

Still boggled but I'm hanging in there. LOL